The age of dragons, and it's origins.

Dragon Age: Origins is the most talked about bioware game in a long time. It had been considered a return to past western RPG glory. In many ways it is. In a whole slew of other ways it is not. A multi platform game does not per definition bad, sadly there is usually some system bleed in one version. Either the console controls feel bad, or the PC version is too dumbed down console style. Game menu's are quite often a good example.
In all fairness DA:O does a good job in that respect. There are some signs that things got simplified for console, but nothing major.

What does get me is the setting. This game more or less does not have any good characters. Almost everyone has a dubious background or rather nasty personality trait. Doom and gloom is the rage, but it is not really my cup of tea.

I ended up sticking with Shale, Sten and my dog as main party members. Mainly because I do not trust the rest at all:

• Our black mage is the almost typical rough shell, but what is inside is only slightly less bitter.
• We have a bard, and that more or less says enough in itself. She is also pretending to be a religious nuttjob.
• The Templar is a whiny brat with no backbone. That becomes even more obvious later in the story
• A 'wise' old mage is narrow minded in some respects, while preaching about self sacrifice and the greater good

What also gets me the wrong way is that religion is equal to good. You're choices seem to be between sheep and blood thirsty maniac.(Any insight in history tells us that religion spawns most maniacs.)

Since sex sells this was also added. I do not mind as such, but I would have liked a choice. At some point a party member got pushy and the only option to get out of sleeping with her was more or less saying I had a headache.
That was one case where a long term bioware quirk popped up. The party member interaction is bugged. Sometimes conversations refer to events that have not yet happened/never will. Other times things seem utterly stuck. In one play trough I completely ignored one person and gave attention to the other. Only to be offered sex by the ignored person.

And why is there no option to make my healers auto rez, what bright spark left that out?

The downloadable content is something I am not amused about. I got nothing for my pre order, because a lot of store chains here had nothing to offer. While some stores gave away bonus items. After buying the game I found out that physical retail copies of the CE did not include warden's keep. I felt doubly cheated. From reviews I know it is not really worth it, but why give more value for money to some over others?

The whole principle of ripping parts out of a game to sell it back later rubs me the wrong way in general. Especially when it is so obvious that his is the case. Having a NPC in the game that refers to the DLC annoys me me even more. You think it's a quest character, while in fact it's an advertisement.

Replay value is another thing. Despite having several character classes and origins things tend to meld together quite quickly. There are some later plot elements that depend on your origin stony. These are quite often minor, and I found myself losing interest in going trough the whole story yet again just for those rare changes.
Examples come to mind, but would also give some major spoilers. (Dwarf noble back home, dalish elf corruption, city elf..)
I had hoped for unique paths to take in certain areas based on your history, yet that hardly ever is the case.

This title I can recommend, it's certainly not bad in any real way. it has quirks a plenty, and story wise it goes a bit too much into the dark direction for my tastes. If you enjoyed the witcher for example, you'll probably like this.